ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[Fran]

From IMDb:  In 1966, John Harlin II died while attempting Europe's most difficult climb, the North Face of the Eiger in Switzerland. Forty years later, his son John Harlin III, an expert mountaineer and the editor of the American Alpine Journal, returns to attempt the same climb.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CutfoYcFMRY[/youtube]

[Pipedream]

aka The Rebel

With and by Luis Trenker, the mother father of all European mountain filmmakers... 



Synopsis: A Tyrolean loses his farm and family to Napoleon's army and joins resistance fighters in the mountains for revenge.

[oilgun]

AKA:  Avalanche, Storm Over Mont Blanc



In the Mont Blanc Observatory works Hannes. The only contact to the outside world is a pilot and Hella over the morse-code-radio. As Hella climbs the mountain with her father, the father dies. Also Hannes gets endangered as his fingers freeze. But Hella gets help.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.

=aside= Anke
Hi. Thanks for reviving the game.

[memento]

Keyword: Mountain

Plot: A white authoress, looking for a story in the outback, is kidnapped by an Afghan slaver, betrothed to a white jungle-man, and menaced by a jealous half-caste rival, a hostile witch-doctor, his crazed-killer son, and opium smugglers!

[Pipedream]

aka The Lost Son

Trenker again in one of his finest films: Der Verlorene Sohn



Plot: During the depression years, a young man leaves his village in the Tyrolian mountains and emigrates to New York which he finds, well, depressing...

 

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Will Penny, an aging cowpoke, takes a job on a ranch which requires him to ride the line of the property looking for trespassers or, worse, squatters. He finds that his cabin in the high mountains has been appropriated by a woman whose guide to Oregon has deserted her and her son. Too ashamed to kick mother and child out just as the bitter winter of the mountains sets in, he agrees to share the cabin until the spring thaw. But it isn't just the snow that slowly thaws; the lonely man and woman soon forget their mutual hostility and start developing a deep love for one another.

[oilgun]

Plot: Taylor and Harold are good friends and avid climbers. While climbing one day, they meet a man who it seems might be attempting to climb K2, the world's second-highest peak. Always pushy, Taylor bugs the man for a spot on the team, claiming that he and Harold are good enough. They may be very good, but K2 is a very tough mountain.

[memento]

From IMDB: This Traveltalk celebrates the beauty of Yosemite National Park. Besides the majestic mountains, we see Bridal Veil Falls and a giant sequoia with a road cut through its trunk. Tourist activities, including horseback riding and fishing, are also highlighted. And remember, DO NOT FEED THE BEARS! 

[Fran]

Full Title:  Stranded: I've Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains (2007)

From IMDb:  The actual survivors of the 1972 Andes plane crash have finally spoken, and you will be captivated by their words. Gonzalo Arijon, a neighbor and friend of many of the survivors, has put together a documentary called "Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains" that retells the story and illuminates it with commentary from all the survivors. The result is the closest one could possibly get to empathizing with that situation and gaining any sort of understanding of how life changes when you are stranded in the mountains for over 70 days.

The film tells it from right as they are getting on the plane until their eventual rescue, leaving very little out. It runs a bit too long, but it's worth it for the emotional impact. You need to have some familiarity with the monotony of the survivors' lives for those two months to truly appreciate their rescue.

While the survivors are the ones who truly make this story come to life, Arijon succeeds in his reenactments and the way he overlaps the survivors' words with these images. He never reenacts anything dramatically or let any words other than those of the survivors into the film. The images he recreates simply set a mood, provide some sort of visual context for the words of the survivors.

The way these men describe what happened is simply remarkable. They seem to recall it so vividly and the words they use to convey feelings that an overwhelming majority of people cannot ever say they have experienced in such a way that you can understand it. When the survivors are hit with an avalanche, the way they describe this near-death experience gives you a sense of what death might feel like. It is not far off when these men refer to their survival as coming back to life. The silence during the very sensitive and difficult parts is also very appropriate and effective. Lastly, the survivors come at the experience from all angles. There is so much to think about in this film from the way they view life now to how being outside of civilization affects your mind to the ethical considerations of the cannibalism that these men chose to partake in.

"Stranded" is powerful, deep and rich with complexity. It was far and away worth the four years of effort and care that Arijon gave it. It is simply one of the best stories of human perseverance ever and the film conveys this with absolute accuracy.